


The Truth in Lies

by Tweekscoffebean



Series: Fractured but whole AU [4]
Category: South Park
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Craig Tucker pov, Craig bad at communicating, Craig is only actual character everyone else mentioned, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Not Cheating, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, This is creek, Tweek didnt leave him for Kenny, Tweek in other chapters, Warning for Bad Lanuage, creek - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tweekscoffebean/pseuds/Tweekscoffebean
Summary: For the past 5 and half years there has been one constant in Craig Tuckers life, Tweek Tweak but that all changed when Wonder Tweek followed Mysterion out of the coon's lair and ended their 5 year relationship. For the most part Craig is okay without Tweek just as long as he avoids the memories that always seem to haunt him, but that's easier said then done.Aged up characters creek are 16/17 in this fic.
Relationships: Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak
Series: Fractured but whole AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589137
Comments: 19
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is a scene in TFBW where Thomas Tucker asks the new kid to collect yaoi creek fan art for him. It is revealed that he has at least two of these prints hanging in their house. Creek is broken up at this point. This story is the result of the knowledge that Craig had to see that art work.

Silence hangs thickly through the air clinging to the darkness, it moves much like shadows. All is still, all is calm, all is far from right. Craig Tucker lays awake his large blue comforter pulled up to his chin. His blue space pajama bottoms cling uncomfortably to his skin. His dark hair plastered against his face. His emerald eyes staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom. The glowing space decals, stars, planets, a alien spaceship, a whole freaking universe are the only source of light in his room, probably even the entire house. They glow ominously, wickedly, beckoning his mind to think of things he rather not. He should really take the decals down. It's not that he no longer liked space, it's not that he found the decals childish(even If they kind are) no its because they are a painful reminder of him! 

Not for the first time in the last few weeks does the memory come unwanted. Craig had just turned 11 and for his birthday Tweek had gotten him the package of space decals. It had been a simple present but the thought his then 10 year old best friend had put into his gift had caused his heart to swell and then race. He hadn't really understood the significance of what was happening and had just hugged the twitchy blond. He had held him for a good solid minute longer then normal ignoring the strange looks his other friends had given him. He then had dragged Tweek upstairs. The two of them spent the rest of his birthday party painstakingly arranging and rearranging the decals until they were just right.

Now just over 5 years to that exact day Craig looks up at the decals again, he frowns, takes a deep breath and then flips those fuckers off. The decals seem to glow brighter as if they are mocking him. Its always late at night when the silence becomes unbearable that his treacherous thoughts push aside the bitterness and anger and dwell on the past. Where memories of Tweek swirl around him and the weight of just what he lost, just what the other had thrown away haunts him.

The decals are beckoning him again their malevolent light fading and morphing into memories. He is sitting in the middle of their schools gym. Wendy is standing in front of the entire school going on and on about the Asian girls. Craig Is barely paying attention his focus is on his best friend who is sitting a few seats away from him. Craig Is openly pouting he wants to sit beside Tweek but Kyle and Stan had slid in between them claiming their bond was closer and therefore they should be the ones seated with one another. Craig would later find out that Wendy had asked Stan to make sure that he was separated from Tweek. Wendy had then unveiled the pictures, the damn photos that had forced the two of them to actually acknowledge just what was between them.  
Looking back Craig could see that he handed it badly but he was only 11.5 and didn't know a damn thing about love.

The decals seem to be speaking again, whispering to him of things that would be best not to dwell on.The first sting of love's bitter kiss had been a dozy. Craig and Tweek had spent a entire weekend not speaking to each other. He doesn't recall what exactly their fight had been about just that it was their first and he had thought he was dying. There hadn't really been any resolution to that fight either. He had just calmly walked up to Tweek Monday morning pushed him back against his locker and kissed him.That had pretty much ended their little squabble.It had also been their first kiss, and although it was awful in the sense neither one of them knew what they were doing. It was also the one that Craig's mind always seems to cling to. Their first and now two weeks, 4 days and about 20 hours ago they had their last. He resists thinking of it unlike the memory of their first which is bittersweet this particular memory stings. It twists and turns, stabbing at every part of him, leaving him battered and bruised.For fucks sake he is a walking cliche. Blinking he dismisses that particular memory and yet the after taste of Tweek remains.

Ignoring the urge to stare all night at those decals and be lost in memory after memory. Craig forces his gaze onto his digital alarm clock. 2:35 am.  
He groans when he realizes just how late it is, he will never be able to sleep now, and The Coon wanted them hunting down leads first thing.At the thought of Coon and friends his mind drifts to their rivals The Freedom pals. The traitors who had left them lead by Mystrerion. Fucking Mysterion and his fucking mysterious nature and his fucking hotness and his fucking boyfriend stealing ways.

Craig frowns at that though. First their was no evidence (other then his gut) that fucking McCormick was even interested in Tweek. Second Tweek wasn't like that, he wasn't, but he left. He followed Kenny and the others out of the coons lair and fucking left.He left him, threw it all away, and so what else was Craig supposed to think? Fuck he was doing it again thinking of Tweek.

Rubbing at his eyes, Craig sits up and throws the comforter off. He stands and walks to his bedroom door, he opens it and stands in the threshold. Silence has penetrated the hallway, its oozes, the air thick with apprehension. Craig wants to to turn from the hallway and return to bed, return to the bitter frustration of his memories. Instead he steps into the hall the apprehension is stronger and with every step he takes his chest tightens, his breathing because ragged, it's as if he is breathing sludge instead of oxygen.

He is barely holding himself together the glue of indifference he clings to threatens to dissolve at any given moment.Craig has yet to have lost it, he has refused to give into the hopeless ache, the bitter hurt that washes over him anytime someone mentions Tweek's name. If Tweek wanted to throw away the last 5 years to chase after McCormicks dick then who was Craig to stand in the way. No, he refuses to break down. He refuses to give Tweek the satisfaction! Losing the other may as well kill the emotional part of him but he rather let it die then to acknowledge the raw pain surging beneath the surface. 

Dread that is the word he had been looking for earlier the air is thick with dread, he just knows something is about to break. Yet, still he moves forward. He needs to sleep, he needs to have one peaceful moment where his every thought isn't haunted by his ex boyfriends treachery. He is not a fool, he knows sleep wont really bring peace. He knows Tweek will plague his dreams but unlike his thoughts Craig doesn't remember his dreams or at the very least he rarely remembers them. 

So he moves forward further into the house. He comes to the staircase the ominous dread intensifies.He takes a single shaky breath but instead of providing him with substance, with relief, his chest tightens even more. Its like there is a knot around where his heart should be and its twisting tighter and tighter. Its probably the cursed red string of fate, Craig thinks as he inches closer to the stairs. The damn string feels as if its looped around his neck now and Tweeks pulling, pulling, pulling. His footfalls are soft as they land against the pale beige wood of the stairs.Yet, they sound loud to Craig, thunderous loud as if he had a heard of elephants strapped to his feet.He is at the bottom and in the entry way hallway in no time. He pauses for a moment, adjusting to the thick silence that seems way worse down here. Relief washes over him there is no sound other then his own breathing. He hadn't woken his parents or Tricia up. He doesn't fear repercussion, he is a trouble maker after all, but he also is sick of the pitiful looks his family keeps giving him they look at him like he is a porcelain doll sitting far to close to the edge. He walks past the hallway (making sure to keep his gaze away from the walls) and into the kitchen. 

There is a remedy he discovered quite by accident a few years back that helped him sleep. The sleepover had been at Tokens house and the young teens had gotten into Tokens parents liquor cabinet. Craig wasn't really interested in drinking but stupid McCormick kept pouring a amber liquid in Tweek's thermos. This was around the time that Tweek had switched from black coffee to drinking mochas. Tweek never confirmed it,but Craig always suspected it was because he liked the taste of mocha on the others tongue more then coffee .In a bid to protect his Tweek from the perverseness that was Kenny McCormick (like seriously why was he so intent on getting Tweek wasted?) Craig had grabbed the thermos from the twitching blond and drank the concoction himself. Then proceeded to pass out, his head resting on  
Tweek's legs. Tweek then of course had turned down all other offers  
of alcohol in order to watch over Craig or so he was told.

Craig frowns, and searches the ceiling for wandering stars or planets or perhaps a alien decal which has harpooned his heart.When he is confident that no super natural element is at work here, and it's his own stupidity that has pulled him into yet another memory. He sets forward in his plan to sleep once again.

He reaches behind the stacked pile of bills on the top of the refrigerator and to the very back where his parents keep their liquor cabinet key. Carefully he pulls the key down and walks back into the entrance way.The large wooden liquor cabinet, stained a dark brown sits flat against the wall. It sits right in between two framed drawings of Tweek and him, drawn by the school girls at his school 5 years ago and then bought by his father. He had asked his mother if they could take the photos down numerous times even before the breakup as he found them embarrassing. On the opposite wall scattered between their family photographs had been actual pictures of Tweek and him, which his mother had taken down, but not the two Yaoi prints. His mother had explained that by displaying them his father was making up for how he had treated them when they first came out. Craig suspects his father really kept them up because he believed they would get back together. But this wasn't just some silly squabble this was all out betrayal. Tweek had left him there was no coming back from that.Yet, still the pictures stayed and so Craig has learned how to avoid them, how to avert his gaze.  
He does just that focusing on the empty part of the wall directly above the liquor cabinet.  
Quickly before his gaze betrays him and falls on the pictures he unlocks the cabinet and pulls out the bottle of baileys. He then spins on his heel turning his back to the art and walks into the kitchen. 

Sitting on the counter just beneath the oak cabinets his mom is so proud of is the milk-frother Tweek bought him. He remembers the look of pride on Tweek's face, his blue/green eyes sparkling when he caught Craig taking small sips from Tweek's coffee thermos. Craig had shrugged, and given Tweek a lopsided grin as he reached again for the hot beverage. He didn't like coffee but there was something about mochas. The way the coffee and chocolate came together and made his whole body just tingle with warmth. It was much how the twitchy blond made him feel. Had made him feel, Craig reminds himself as the familiar bitter ache washes over him.

Craig goes to the fridge and pulls out the milk and pours about a cup into the milk- frother he adds a generous portion of baileys to the milk and turns the frother on. Then he turns to the cupboard to his left. He stares at the cupboard for a moment indecisive. He doesn't really like the taste of alcohol even something as simple as baileys. He usually only drinks if he needs help sleeping but because the alcohol burns and leaves a nasty after taste he knows he wont be able to drink it with just heated milk. He plans to add chocolate to it, but the problem is that the hot chocolate mix and tea are all kept in the same cupboard, the cupboard where they kept the coffee. He had asked his parents to get rid of it yet, sometimes early in the morning when he had just woken he swears he can smell the bitter aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Craig's not sure if its just his imagination clinging to yet another memory of Tweek in the early hours before he blinks away the remnants of sleep or if his parents had really listened to his request.

Shaking slightly he reaches up and opens the cupboard. Tea cups and mugs sit silently on the top shelf of the cupboard. In the center of that shelf sits a familiar blue mug it is adorned with hearts, rainbows and a childish sketch of stripe. A relic of another happier time this particular mug calls to him, and before he can stop himself, he is pulling it out of the cupboard. He stares at the mug taking in the care and details that went into making it. His fingertips ghost across the surface of the mug and as they fall across the hearts his eyes begin to fill with tears. No, this was not going to happen there was no fucking way he was going to cry over a fucking stupid mug Tweek had made for him years ago. It didn't matter that it was the very first 'romantic' gift his ex had given him. This wasn't happening! Blinking rapidly he gently places the mug on the counter behind the milk -frother so he would no longer be able to see it. Turning his attention back to the task at hand he reaches back into the cupboard and pulls out another plain ordinary memory free mug. Craig takes a deep breath his heart beating way to fast for his liking. The moment with the mug had been too close . His eyes scan the two shelves below the mugs for any sign of the forbidden beverage. The middle shelf is stacked with packages of tea neatly stacked side by side. His mother in particular was a big tea drinker, sometimes when Tweek was over he would have a cup with her. "NO" he isn't aware he spoke out loud and jumps at the sound of his own voice. This is so fucking stupid he is starting to lose it, the lack of sleep and constant ache lingering just beneath the surface of his indifference starting to take a toll.Another crack in his carefully layered wall breaks and he closes his eyes, counting slowly to ten in order to regain control.  
He should be able to make himself a fucking cup of hot chocolate without thinking of that fucking traitor, yet the harder he tries to push Tweek from his mind the harder it becomes.

The beep of the milk-frother pulls him from his misery and he opens his eyes.  
He turns his attention back to the cupboard and to the final shelf. Sitting among the sugar dish, creamer, honey and various tea strainers is a container of hot chocolate Vanilla flavored, it's not his favorite but it will do. His slender fingers fall around the base of the container and he pulls it out. If only he had looked down at the floor when he pulled the hot chocolate from the shelf, he wouldn't have seen the edge of the bag sticking out from the back of the shelf the hot chocolate had been hiding it. A large half filled bag of Tweek bros ground coffee. Fuck! The chocolate container and mug fall from his hands and crash to the floor the sound of the mug shattering against the tiled floor is loud and echoes through the house.

Craig's desire for sleep is over written by his need to escape he turns abruptly and runs from the room into the hallway. In his panic to get out of the kitchen he has forgotten to avert his gaze and his eyes fall onto the Yaoi painting closest to him.  
It's almost as if he a puppet and Tweek is a puppet master yanking hard on the strings his entire focus now on that particular piece of art. The story of the painting is simple the tale of the red string of fate. Craig is standing behind Tweek leaning forward slightly into the other. His hands resting on the blonds shoulders. Tweek is wearing his usual buttoned up green shirt and is wrapped in a red ribbon. Tangled in the red string of fate that was supposed to bind the two together forever, but there is no forever, just the cold harsh truth of loneliness. The red string it self nothing but a illusion, a fantasy. Craig leans forward till his head is resting against the surface of the painting. His fingers shake as they touch the image of Tweek.and the memory comes.  
They are late for the meeting and the coon is impatiently paging them the annoying beep of his alert keeps sounding in Craig's room." all coon and friends report to the coon base. I repeat all coon and friends.." Tweek looks up from the part of the bed he is laying on and glares at the coon alert box. " Go away," he hisses before turning his attention back to Craig who is laying beside him.

Craig smirks at the blond before raising his right hand then flipping the coon alert box off. " Babe...." Tweek doesn't give him a chance to finish, he places a single finger across Craig's bottom lip and then shifts so he is sitting up. "Fuck them," and then he is climbing on top of Craig leaning forward and kissing him. The kiss is brief and Craig finds himself groaning in displeasure as Tweek moves away from him. The blond lays back down resting his head against the older boys chest. Instantly Craig's hands make there way to his golden curls, honey blond strands being smoothed back with the liquid movements of Craig's hand.

Tweek hums in pleasure, closing his eyes briefly, " Promise me we Ahhh will always be like this?" Its more of question then a statement since Tweek's anxiety and all the doubts it brings has never fully released its grip on the blond.

" Tweekers, I..." Craig struggles to find the right words usually in moments like this when Tweek becomes anxious about their relationship Craig would just kiss him but he senses that would only make things worse.  
There is a palatable shift about to happen between them, the air thick with tension, and Craig knows he can fuck it all up if he says the wrong thing.  
There is only one thing he can say to convey everything but it's so damn cliche and he doesn't want to ruin things by making this into some damn after school special, and yet it's the only thing he can think of in the span of time he has. He knows the longer he takes the more the others anxiety will eat away at the goodness of the moment.  
So cliche or not, Craig tucker swallows his pride and tells the truth.  
"I love you."  
Simple and effective and If the way the blond laying on him has just lit up it was obviously the right move.  
"Craig," Tweek leans forward again and peppers craig's face with kisses. " I love your nose" he then kisses the top of Craig's nose, " and I love your ears" He half kisses half bites the outside of Craig's left ear which causes the other to groan.  
"And I love your lips," small slight kisses pressed up against Craig's lips.  
He pulls away slightly, now sitting, staring down at Craig, one hand playing with the others dark locks the other hand caressing Craig's face.  
" And I love you,". And then Craig is pulling him back to him lips crashing against lips.

The memory fades but the echoes of those treacherous words stab at his already raw wounds causing the scraps of his indifference to fall away. "YOU don't" The words spill from him the venom of his truths directed solely at the painted image of Tweek and himself " You never...ever…did." It had never been the memory of that last kiss but the words, I love you, that he has been hiding from. Tweek lied, it had been nothing but a lie, all of it, a lie. Pretend, fantasy. some grand play Tweek had played, drumming a demonic beat on Craig's fragile heart. Anger, hot and bitter pours from him like molten lava without knowing, without caring, without seeing anything but the injustice of betrayal, he yanks the art from the wall and smashes it to ground. Over and over and over again until the print is nothing but a tangled mess of torn paper and broken glass. 

Breathing heavy, muscles aching from exhaustion,Craig falls to his knees. His gaze falling back onto the ruined painting. As quick as it had begun the anger washes away, the red hot spokes of lava disappear, and then he comes undone. He doesn't fight against the waves of grief as they wash over him. There is a uncomfortable pressure in his chest A raw edge of pain that grows deeper with every breath. I love you, I love you, I love you, those three little words echo in his brain. Tweek had spoken them so tenderly but now those words are worse then any of the ones spat at him since their break. The memory of that first and last I love you echoing through him twists like a knife. Serrated blades thrusting deeper and deeper into his guts leaving cuts that will not heal. His body shakes, his vision blurs as his gaze falls to the other picture. He stands his legs threatening to give out but somehow he is able to stay standing.  
A cold bitter feeling soothes away the pain and for a moment he feels like he is in control again. The indifference he normally wears is nothing but a band aid trying to keep these emotions at bay.  
Fuck it. Craig thinks, he will let them consume him, he will let them burn.  
He stares at the second picture of the two of them, the lie made real by the fantasies of some grade school girls. The thing about lies though is the truth they hold, but Craig and Tweek's truth is ugly, nothing more then a pathetic one sided love.  
Even if it kills him Craig is going to kill that love.  
He reaches out for the 2nd painting, ready to smash it like he did the first, he lifts it of the wall. Younger versions of himself and Tweek stare back at him. He is holding Tweek's hand, a cocky look on his own face as he shows the blushing blond another photo. The longer he stares at the painting the harder it is to destroy. It's as if this one piece of art is the only thing that remains. He slides to the ground again, ignoring the shards of glass, and cradles the photo against his chest. Rocking back and forth.  
Craig cant deny it anymore he is no longer in control, no he realizes he never was. Tweek is all can see, all he can feel, the only thing that matters and he is gone and Craig is haunted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its not like he is stalking his ex boyfriend or anything he is just holding onto the last piece of Craig he has left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter is dedicated to AmberCreek95 who has kindly offered to beta/edit my stories.

Specks of golden light in various shades of orange, yellow and red fall through the open window illuminating the room. They fall over Tweek, encircling his wild blond hair like a halo. Tweek blinks, frowning slightly at the early morning light intrusion. He is sitting at his desk wearing nothing but an oversized blue NASA t shirt and a pair of green boxer shorts. His dark aqua eyes stare at the lit screen of a white laptop. The laptop's cover is filled with numerous space themed stickers - a white and blue sparkly space ship, various rainbow colored stars, and an anime style sticker of a black haired astronaut his arms wrapped tightly around a blond haired coffee drinking alien. They remind Tweek of other space decals. Ones that glow ominously from the ceiling of another teen's room.

Tweek shakes his head as he tries to will his mind away from the memories associated with those particular decals. Tries to forget the way his heart raced when his former best friend and then later ex boyfriend's hand brushed against his as he handed him one of those star decals. Warmth spreads through him as the memory takes shape. As his mind against his will pulls him back in time. It was a simple gift. One that ten and a half year old Tweek had worried was not good enough, but the moment Craig had opened the badly wrapped present and seen those decals, his face had lit up and he had hugged Tweek not letting go for a solid minute. The blond just stood there - face burning, heart racing, feeling dizzy. He hadn't understood what was happening. Not until the whispers of their other friends had forced Craig to step away from him and Tweek’s heart fell in disappointment. Only for the whole thing to start up again when Craig had flipped the rest of their friends off and told them go get the fuck out, before grabbing Tweek's hand, and half dragging him to his bedroom. Tweek shakes his head dissolving that particular memory.

He reaches for the half empty rainbow mug that sits to his right. The moment the liquid touches his tongue, Tweek murmurs in displeasure. The coffee is strong and bitter with just a hint of chocolate. It's not so much the sweetness of the chocolate that he dislikes, but rather the memory associated with it. The memory of the taste of coffee and chocolate on a certain raven haired boy's tongue. Tweek puts the coffee mug back down on his desk. It seems to smirk up at him, its simple rainbow design mocking him. Unwanted, another memory comes to mind. Craig proudly holding the very same mug and presenting it to Tweek. "I got us each one," Craig's nasally voice had explained, "so when I can't be with you, we can still be close..." Craig had turned away from him then pink dusting his cheeks, "so you'll never be alone."

"But he did leave you alone” one of the voices that always plagued his thoughts whispers.

Tweek ignores the voice and instead focuses on the rainbow decal on the mug. A miserable sigh. He can feel the bitter cruelness of it all, of loves fading kiss. He groans putting his head down on the desk, his fingers instantly reaching up clutching at the golden strands of his hair.

The whispers in his head grow more insistent. They seem to delight in the fact that Craig is no longer his. “Just look at how much happier he is without you” they say.

Tweek is stronger than the voices, no longer that thirteen year old kid who got caught by jealous whispers. He is almost sixteen now - almost an adult, and he refuses to get lured by the mischief that the monsters bring. “But are you really? Are you Tweek or was it Craig all along who kept us at bay?”

Tweek groans "shut up, shut up, shut up!"

The voices grow quiet and then as Tweek brings the rainbow mug back to his lips, the worse of all the voices, the part of himself he tries to keep locked away rises.

“Do you think Craig's spending time with Thomas?" This particular monster asks, its voice the depiction of innocence "Just imagine what the two of them could be doing."

A familiar feeling washes over Tweek coating everything green, as the words ring through his mind.

"You could always… check up on him." All the monsters that take residence in his head implore.

And really...what harm could it do? Tweek thinks as he turns back to the laptop. His inner demons are quiet now, as he flips back and forth between his ex-boyfriend’s social media accounts.

He is staring at Craig's latest Coonstagram photo. His ex looks good, too good, and he can feel the familiar ache settle. He's not spying, he just holding onto the one life line that he has left. Craig stares back at him from the computer. He looks smug. His eyes dark and hooded. His jaw jutted upwards slightly and his lips (the lips Tweek quite literally has gotten lost in) hold the slightest smile. He is wearing his 'super hero' costume. Stripe, their shared child, is perched on the top of Super Craig's trade mark hat.

Super Craig? More like Stupid Craig, Tweek thinks to himself, and yet he can't take his eyes off of the photo.

It takes Tweek a few moments to notice the caption on the photo. Craig had written in large capital letters. "Me and my Super partner - Stripe is so loyal and he doesn't get butthurt LIKE SOMEONE."

Tweek stares at the caption. His body heats up, his heart twists. Craig was calling him out? But why? Did he… could he... "Does he miss me?"

Laughter, cold, bitter the monsters are back, "You’re such a fool."

"Gah! Shut up." He hisses at his inner dialogue.

And then to prove them wrong, to show them and the world that he does not need Craig Tucker. He types out a reply under the photo of Craig and Stripe.

"You replaced me with the Guinea Pig?! THAT I BOUGHT YOU!!!! YOU'RE SUCH A CHILD!!!"

There, he reasons, I am totally over him! He feels a little better like he could breathe again. Like he had won. Like Craig was the one left alone and broken. And then instantly, almost like Craig had been sitting on his bed - his dark hair messy in that totally sexy way, his eyes sparkling with mischief - just waiting for Tweek to respond.

"Dude get off my posts."

Tweek stares at the sentence like it was the most vile string of words ever written.

"Gah, you.., you... Jerk."

Instead of closing the laptop, instead of ending this insanity. Tweek closes that particular photo and opens another. This is also a newer photo. It looks as if it was uploaded last night. He briefly scans the many likes and comments before examining the photo. It's a team shot of Coon and Friends. Craig is standing in between The Human Kite and Mosquito, Clyde's arm draped carelessly around Craig's shoulders. Tweek stares down at the photo frowning. He blinks rapidly at the tears filling his eyes, his insides twisting with jealousy. He knows that Clyde isn’t gay. He knows that Clyde is with Bebe and that Craig is usually annoyed by his 'best friends' clingy behavior. The only thing is that judging by the look on the usual stoic boys face, Craig doesn't seem to be annoyed. He shakes his head, willing those weird thoughts away. After all Craig's, not like that. Unwanted another memory comes to mind, another time barely two years ago when Craig had hidden their relationship. Tweek shakes that thought away before his vague jealousies re-awaken, the Green eyed monster that occasionally torments him. Craig had never cheated. It had been nothing but a misunderstanding on Tweek's part, something his ex-boyfriend casually forgets even happened, though Tweek remembers and his unease grows. It’s true that Craig never cheated on him but that doesn't say much against the idea of him moving on.

No, this is just his anxieties taking. Clyde is straight and besides, the only other guy Craig had ever shown any remote interest in is Thomas (Craig will say otherwise but why else would he have tried to hide their relationship two years ago?).

No, this is so silly. There is no truth to the idea that Craig did anything back then, and there definitely is no proof he is doing anything now, and besides… Craig had said he loved him.

"But you didn’t stand up for me!" He accuses the photo.

Suddenly Tweek's Coonstagram dings, signalling he has a notification. He quickly closes the photo of Coon and Friends and opens up his own Coonstagram page. One new comment sits below his latest photo. It's a shot of him and Mysterion. Kenny is smirking down at him as he holds Tweek's thermos to his lips, Tweek's hands reaching eagerly for his favorite beverage. Token had snapped the photo with Tweek's phone (who he took so Tweek wouldn't text Craig) and had uploaded it to Coonstagram. Tweek had completely forgotten about the photo until now.

His hands shake as he stares down at it, the comment Craig had left. "Didn't take you that long, did it?" He had ended the comment with an ANGRY face. Staring at those words, at that emoji, made Tweek's heart pound a single whispered name echoing with each heartbeat.

Craig's profile picture stares up at him. His emerald eyes cold, his trade mark frown the very definition of indifference. His (their) guinea pig Stripe sits perched on the boy's shoulder, his written words drip with accusations. Flurries of panic start to nestle their way into his brain. He ignores them, ignores the whispers that plead their case of indifference. That suggest that he really did mean nothing.

Twitching slightly, he closes Coonstagram and opens Facebook. It takes a moment for his page to load. He hasn't been on Facebook for the past 2 weeks. Not since Craig had thrown it all away by valuing fucking Eric Cartman more than his boyfriend of 5 years.

A sharp gasp fills his room when his profile loads. He had forgotten that they had both changed their profile pics just before it happened. Super Craig and Wonder Tweek stare back at him, arms wrapped around each other, a slight dusting of color spread across Tweek's face. Craig is leaned forward slightly looking straight at the camera. He is kissing Tweek on the side of his lips. Tweek has his hands out in defence of his then boyfriend's PDA. They look happy.

Tweek stares at the photo, his twitching becoming more pronounced - tiny spasms that start in his hands but soon spread through his entire body. He goes to the profile photo option, his mouse hovering over the change picture option for a moment. Tweek stares at the option in indecision. He would be making a statement if he changed it, and even bigger one if he left it alone.

"But he threw you away" the whispers are back "he threw it all away. What does it matter?"

"No, ahh oh god," his hands are in his hair pulling, pulling, pulling. The pain that radiates down from his scalp seems to soothe the anxious whispers that are echoing through his mind. Tweek sits up straighter in his seat. He will change his picture, to that super cute one of him and Stripe that Craig likes....liked so much, if the other had also changed his. It's so simple Tweek reasons with himself "’cause, ngh, if ack I-I meant nothing..."

Quickly, before common sense takes over, he pulls up Craig's Facebook profile. A badly drawn yaoi picture of Craig and himself stares back at him.

"Ack, w-what?" Tweek stares at the picture.

Craig had changed his profile to another picture of them? But why? And most importantly, why was it one of those yaoi pictures their classmates had drawn so many years ago? He stares at the picture, willing it to answer him. It wasn’t even one of the better art works either! It somewhat resembled the 'star' piece of Thomas Tucker’s collection and yet the artist who had drawn it lacked any real talent. The photo showed a very basic drawing of younger versions of Craig and Tweek. They were barely a step up from stick people. Lines and squares, and other shapes interlocked to form the rudimentary outlines of their bodies. The artist had used what appeared to be lopsided heart shapes for the characters heads, one of which appeared to be upside down. The majority of the work had gone into sketching facial features and hair. Both faces displayed warm smiles: the blond drawing's face was saturated with pink and red, in what Tweek assumed was meant to be flushed cheeks? Or perhaps his paper counterpart had a sunburn? A green shirt (or something that resembled a shirt) in the wrong shade was scribbled across his paper images badly drawn torso.The paper Craig was not wearing his hat. Black streaks of color in vertical lines were placed around his upside down heart head. A blue blob type thingy was scribbled along his triangle torso. Most shockingly there was blood or something wrapped all around the two, but most of it seemed to be pooled around paper Tweek’s head. Tweek clicked onto the image to enlarge it. He tilts his head to the side as he stares at the picture. 

"blood, gah...a string of blood??

Whatever it was, it’s wrapped all around the two. Just what was Craig trying to say here? Was this some kind of threat? Did Cartman brainwash his Craig so badly that he now was some kind of assassin and was telling Tweek and the world he is going to kill Tweek with some kind of red thingy?... was that thing even red? The colors look more purple or pink, Indigo maybe?  
Tweek’s eyes fell down to the bottom of the image, where the artist usually signs the picture, and sure enough in Craig's handwriting, his name was signed in large scrolled letters.

A slight frown finds itself onto Tweek's lips, "ngh ahhh augh what does this mean?"

Hastily he clicks on the comments option ready to voice his displeasure at Craig’s maybe not so thinly veiled threat but someone had beaten him to the top comment, "Dude, I know you’re pissed at Tweek for leaving you but is this type of threat really necessary?”

"Gah! I didn't leave him!" Tweek glares at the comment.

Craig had replied directly beneath Stan's untrue declaration "Fuck off Marsh."

And then below that Clyde had responded, “I think it's a beautiful portrait of you and Tweek um but what does the blood represent though??

A middle finger emoji followed by, "your so stupid," was Craig's reply. That was it other than a bunch of girls prattling on about how sweet Craig was for drawing a (very bad) yaoi picture. Heart racing, Palms sweating, Tweek’s fingers dance across the keyboard tapping out a response before he can stop himself. "WHY IS THERE BLOOD ALL AROUND MY HEAD!!!!" 

Tweek face pales in horror as the three little dots indicate someone was responding to his comment. Oh god. What had he done? Craig was going to kill him now or at the very least never speak to him again. He had after all just told him to get off his posts on Coonstagram. 

"Get off my Facebook!!!"

Tweek's heart sank as Craig's words jumped at him from the screen and then, not even thirty seconds later, Craig added another response "and it's not blood"

What is it then? Tweek questions the computer and as if Craig had heard him, "it's the red string of fate"

Tweek blinks and then rubs at his eyes, convinced he was seeing things, but sure enough when he looks again Craig's last message was still there, frank and to the point, but also raw and as much public emotion the stoic boy was willing to show. It's at that moment Tweek decides to leave his profile photo alone. He looks one last time at Craig's beautiful yet badly drawn art and then powers the computer down.

Slowly he starts getting ready for work, humming softly to himself, making a decision that, after his shift, he will offer Craig the same life line he had just given him.  
A thousand ideas float through his brain as the smell of coffee and freshly baked muffins float up from the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter orginally was going to be it's own one shot but it seems to fit nicely with the Truth in lies (this story ) so now we will have yet another multiple chapter fic based on these two fighting in the fractured but whole.
> 
> I will try and update as much as possible but as you all know we have lots of stories in this series and another much darker series I am working on. I plan on updating one or two fics once a week until the quarantine is lifted.

**Author's Note:**

> when I wrote this story I had attended for Craig to be 16 and Tweek to be 15; however due to the subject matter in inappropriate moments I decided to age them up by a year. So creek are actully 16/17 in this fic!


End file.
